Gilgit-Baltistan, KP, Balochistan lag behind in testing for coronavirus

ISLAMABAD: Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Hafeezur Rehman on Friday said that they have a capacity to conduct 100 coronavirus tests in a day and had conducted tests of 1000 suspected patients till date, ARY NEWS reported.

“We have a number of virus suspects in the region and the situation could become clear before us if we conduct 500 tests in a day,” he said while talking during ARY NEWS programme ‘Sawal Ye Hai’ and added that they plan to increase their testing capacity to 300 in coming days.

He said that currently they are only focusing on suspected cases and those who had arrived from abroad.

“We have received 3000 testing kits from the federal government,” the chief minister of the federally-administered region said adding that they had also purchased 2000 kits from China that would soon be delivered.

We are currently in dire need of testing kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight the virus in the region, he said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Talking during the programme, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Minister for Health and Finance Taimur Jhagra said that the province currently has the capacity to conduct 300 tests in a day. He said that they were eyeing to improve it by 1500 to 2000 by next month.

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“We need to improve our testing facility in order to tackle the spread of coronavirus,” he said.

The minister said that the country was able to deal with the virus outbreak effectively as it chose to undergo lockdown soon after realizing the global situation.

Balochistan

Speaking during the programme, Spokesman of the Balochistan government Liaquat Shahwani said that 150 suspected patients undergone tests in the province daily and they would be able to improve the capacity to 800 within next few days.

“We have performed 2311 tests till to date,” he said adding that they have asked the federal authorities to provide kits so that tests could be performed on 50,000 people across the province.

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“We currently have kits to carry out tests on 12000 suspected coronavirus patients,” he said.

The spokesman said that 20 to 30 pilgrims were arriving at Taftan border daily from Iran and they were put in quarantine for 14 days and are later allowed to proceed forward after they test negative for the virus.

“In case of positive outcome, the patient is once again put in the isolation facility,” he said adding that currently around 2000 people are still waiting to cross the border from the neighbouring country.